St. Louis tornado history

There is a long history of destructive tornadoes in the St. Louis metropolitan area. The third-deadliest, and the costliest in United States history, the 1896 St. Louis–East St. Louis tornado, injured more than one thousand people and caused at least 255 fatalities in the City of St. Louis and in East St. Louis. The second-costliest tornado also occurred in St. Louis in September 1927.^[1] More tornado fatalities occurred in St. Louis than any other city in the United States.^[2] Also noteworthy is that destructive tornadoes occur in winter and autumn, as well as the typical months of spring.^[3] Additionally, damaging tornadoes occur in the morning and late at night, as well as the more common late afternoon to early evening maximum period.

In April 2011, an EF4 tornado on Good Friday caused widespread damage along a 22 mi (35 km) track across the northern part of the St. Louis metropolitan area; including significant damage to Lambert International Airport, causing a complete shutdown for over 24 hours, but no deaths.^[4] Prior to that event, a F4 tornado also struck the northern metro, and killed three in January 1967.^[5] Another F4 tornado struck the Granite City and Edwardsville, Illinois area in April 1981.^[6] During a major outbreak in December 2021, two tornadoes in the metro area killed 7 people.^[7]

City of St. Louis tornadoes

^[8]

Date	Location	Rating	Casualties	Notes
March 8, 1871	St. Louis - East St. Louis - St. Clair County, Illinois	F3	9 fatalities, 60 injuries	See: 1871 St. Louis tornado
March 29, 1872	7th Street	F1	2 possible fatalities, 8 injuries
January 12, 1890	St. Louis - Madison County, Illinois	F2	4 fatalities, 15 injuries
May 27, 1896	St. Louis - East St. Louis - St. Clair County	F4	255 fatalities, 1000 injuries	Costliest[1] and third-deadliest tornado in U.S. history (see: 1896 St. Louis–East St. Louis tornado)[9]
August 19, 1904	St. Louis - Madison County	F2	3 fatalities, 10 injuries
September 29, 1927	Webster Groves - St. Louis	F3	72-79+ fatalities, 550+ injuries	2nd-costliest.[1] and among top 30 deadliest tornado in U.S. history[10] (see: 1927 St. Louis–East St. Louis tornado)
September 16, 1958	St. Louis	F1	0 fatalities
February 10, 1959	Crescent - St. Louis - Madison County	F4	21 fatalities, 345 injuries	Very similar path to 1871, 1896, 1927 tornadoes. (see: St. Louis tornado outbreak of February 1959)
May 1, 1983	St. Louis - Madison County	F2	3 injuries
March 31, 2007	Midtown St. Louis	EF0	5 injuries	Late-March 2007 tornado outbreak[11]
December 31, 2010	North St. Louis	EF1	0 fatalities	2010 New Year's Eve tornado outbreak[12]
April 22, 2011	Riverview, St. Louis	EF4	0 fatalities, some injuries	2011 St. Louis tornado during tornado outbreak sequence of April 19–24, 2011[4]
April 10, 2013	The Hill, St. Louis	EF0	0 fatalities	[13]
May 31, 2013	Riverview, St. Louis	EF3	2 injuries	St. Charles County to St. Louis County to extreme northern St. Louis City at 32.5 mi (52.3 km) over 35 min with max width 1 mi (1.6 km)[14] (see: Tornado outbreak of May 26–31, 2013)

Greater St. Louis-area tornadoes

These tables describe the tornado history for Greater St. Louis. In Missouri, this includes the counties of St. Louis, St. Charles, Franklin, and Jefferson. In Illinois, this includes the counties of Madison, St. Clair, and Monroe. Data for the independent city of St. Louis is not part of these tables unless part of the path of the tornado striking these counties also struck the city.

1870–1950

Date	Location	Counties	Rating	Casualties	Notes[15]
July 13, 1870		St. Clair
March 8, 1871		St. Louis City, St. Clair	F3	9 fatalities, 60 injuries	1871 St. Louis tornado
June 30, 1877		St. Louis
May 18, 1878		St. Louis
January 12, 1890		St. Louis
March 27, 1890		St. Clair			Tornado outbreak of March 27, 1890
May 27, 1896	St. Louis, East St. Louis, IL	St. Louis City, Madison	F4	255+ fatalities, 1000+ injuries	1896 St. Louis–East St. Louis tornado
May 27, 1896	New Baden, IL	St. Clair, Clinton	F4	24 fatalities, 125 injuries	Tornado outbreak sequence of May 1896
May 14, 1909		St. Louis
September 29, 1927		St. Louis	F3	72-79+ fatalities, 550+ injuries	Tornado outbreak of September 29, 1927
September 1, 1931		St. Louis
March 15, 1938		St. Clair
March 15, 1938		St. Clair
May 21, 1949		St. Louis
May 21, 1949		St. Louis

1950s

Date	Location	Counties	Rating	Casualties	Notes
January 3, 1950		St. Louis	F3
May 24, 1952		St. Clair			Tornado outbreak of May 21–24, 1952
March 25, 1954		St. Louis
October 6, 1955		St. Clair
October 6, 1955		St. Clair
February 24, 1956	Pacific, MO, Lebanon, IL	St. Louis, St. Clair	F4	6 fatalities, 36 injuries	Traveled 77.6 miles (124.9 km).
February 25, 1956	Pacific, MO	St. Clair	F1	None
August 30, 1956		St. Louis
September 15, 1956		St. Clair
April 25, 1957		St. Clair
May 9, 1957		St. Louis
May 21, 1957		St. Clair			May 1957 Central Plains tornado outbreak sequence
May 22, 1957		St. Louis
April 5, 1958		St. Clair
April 23, 1958		St. Louis
May 3, 1958		St. Louis
May 3, 1958		St. Clair
May 31, 1958		St. Clair
June 1, 1958		St. Clair
February 10, 1959	Southeastern Flourissant, MO	St. Louis	F0	None	St. Louis tornado outbreak of February 1959: Minor damage to homes.
February 10, 1959	Sherman, MO, Warson Woods, MO	St. Louis	F4	21 fatalities, 345 injuries	St. Louis tornado outbreak of February 1959: Damaged or destroyed numerous structures, ripped part of the roof of the St. Louis Arena, and blew down a TV tower before causing catastrophic damage in Downtown St. Louis.
May 10, 1959		St. Clair

1960–1980

Date	Location	Counties	Rating	Casualties	Notes
March 29, 1960		St. Clair
September 24, 1961		St. Clair
January 24, 1967		St. Louis	F4	3 deaths, 216 injured	Fourth-worst tornado in history to hit the St. Louis Metropolitan Area, last F4 tornado to affect St. Louis County or City until April 22, 2011. See 1967 St. Louis tornado outbreak.[5]
August 3, 1967		St. Clair
October 24, 1967		St. Louis
April 3, 1968		St. Clair
May 15, 1968		St. Clair			Tornado outbreak of May 1968
August 15, 1968		St. Louis
June 1, 1970		St. Louis
May 7, 1973		St. Louis
May 26, 1973		St. Louis
June 4, 1973		St. Clair
March 7, 1975		St. Louis
March 20, 1976		St. Clair
February 23, 1977		St. Louis
May 12, 1978		St. Louis

1980–2000

Date	Location	Counties	Rating	Casualties	Notes
April 7, 1980	St. Charles	St. Charles & St. Louis	F3	A tornado causing F3 damaged affected St. Louis and St. Charles counties producing 2.5 million dollars in damage
April 3, 1981	Edwardsville	Madison	F4
May 1, 1983		St. Clair
April 3, 1984		St. Clair
May 25, 1984		St. Clair
November 15, 1988		St. Clair
November 15, 1988		St. Clair
November 26, 1990		St. Clair
May 10, 1991		St. Clair
May 11, 1991		St. Clair
July 4, 1992		St. Clair
May 9, 1995		St. Clair			Tornado outbreak sequence of May 6–27, 1995
May 18, 1995		St. Clair
May 18, 1995		St. Clair
April 19, 1996		St. Clair			Tornado outbreak sequence of April 1996
June 10, 1996		St. Louis
April 13, 1998		St. Louis
April 15, 1998		St. Clair, Madison			Tornado outbreak of April 15–16, 1998
April 15, 1998		St. Clair

2000—present

Date	Location	Counties	Rating	Casualties	Notes
June 24, 2000		St. Clair
April 10, 2001		St. Louis			Costliest hailstorm in U.S. history. 4 in (100 mm) dia. hail in Florissant.[16]
April 27, 2002		St. Clair			Tornado outbreak of April 27–28, 2002
June 10, 2003		St. Clair
June 10, 2003		St. Clair
June 10, 2003		St. Clair
June 10, 2003		St. Clair
November 27, 2005	Webster Groves, Maplewood	St. Louis	F0	0	Late-November 2005 tornado outbreak[17]
January 2, 2006	Creve Coeur	St. Louis	F1	0
March 11, 2006	Festus, Missouri	Jefferson	F3	0	Part of a three-day tornado outbreak across Missouri[18]
April 2, 2006	Fairview Heights, O'Fallon, Illinois	St. Clair	EF2	1	Tornado outbreak of April 2, 2006[19]
July 23, 2006	Troy, Illinois	Madison	F1	0	Part of the July 2006 derechoes event[20]
June 8, 2009		St. Clair	EF2		[21]
December 31, 2010	Byrnes Mill	Jefferson			2010 New Year's Eve tornado outbreak
December 31, 2010	Fenton	St. Louis
December 31, 2010	Ballwin	St. Louis
December 31, 2010	Sunset Hills, Missouri	St. Louis	EF3	1
February 27, 2011	Troy, Illinois	Madison	EF1	0
April 22, 2011	Foristell, New Melle, Maryland Heights, Bridgeton, St. Ann, Edmundson, Kinloch, Berkeley, Ferguson, Dellwood, Bellefontaine Neighbors, Moline Acres, Riverview, St. Louis, Pontoon Beach, Granite City	St. Charles, St. Louis, St. Louis City, St. Clair, Madison	EF4	0 fatalities, some injuries	Main article: 2011 St. Louis tornado. Significant damage in North St. Louis County in Maryland Heights, St. Ann, Bridgeton, Berkeley, and Ferguson. Lambert International Airport (EF2[22]) closed due to widespread damage, windows blown out, and the destruction of Concourse C.[4]
April 10, 2013	St. Albans	Franklin	EF1	0 fatalities	[13]
April 10, 2013	Bridgeton, Hazelwood, Florissant	St. Louis	EF2	0 fatalities	[13]
May 31, 2013	Harvester, Earth City, Bridgeton, Ferguson, Bellefontaine Neighbors, St. Louis	St. Charles, St. Louis, St. Louis City	EF3	2 injuries	Tornado outbreak of May 26–31, 2013[23]32.5 mi (52.3 km) path over 35 min and 1 mi (1.6 km) max width[14]
May 31, 2013	South Roxanna	Madison	EF3	0	Tornado outbreak of May 26–31, 2013[14]
May 31, 2013	Byrnes Mill, Scotsdale	Jefferson	EF1	0
May 31, 2013		Franklin	EF1	0
April 3, 2014	Olivette, University City	St. Louis	EF1	0	At ~5:20 am, about 100 buildings damaged over 0.6-mile (0.97 km) path length and 100-yard (91 m) path width[24]
June 7, 2014	St. Peters	St. Charles	EF0	0	Roof damage to an Arby's and a Club Fitness[25]
June 28, 2015		St. Charles	EF2	0	Destroyed an outbuilding and damaged multiple homes, one at EF2 strength.[26]
April 26, 2016	WSW of New Melle	St. Charles	EF0	0	Damaged the roof of an outbuilding.[27]
March 6, 2017	Wentzville	St. Charles	EF1	0 fatalities, 3 injuries	Tornado outbreak of March 6–7, 2017: Tornado caused minor damage to several businesses.[28]
April 29, 2017	Orchard Farm	St. Charles	EF0	0	Tornado outbreak and floods of April 28 – May 1, 2017: Several homes sustained minor roof damage.[29]
May 21, 2019	Augusta	Franklin, St. Charles	EF1	0	Tornado outbreak sequence of May 2019: Caused extensive tree damage.[30]
March 27, 2021	Highland	Madison	EF1	0	Tornado outbreak sequence of March 24–28, 2021: Minor roof damage to homes, and a shed was completely destroyed.[31]
December 10, 2021	Defiance, Chesterfield, Maryland Heights	St. Charles, St. Louis	EF3	1 fatality, 2 injuries	Tornado destroyed 2 homes at high-end EF3 strength east of Defiance.[32] Part of the Tornado outbreak of December 10–11, 2021.
December 10, 2021	Pontoon Beach, Edwardsville	Madison	EF3	6 fatalities, 1 injury[33]	Destroyed an Amazon warehouse, killing 6 people. Part of the Tornado outbreak of December 10–11, 2021.
May 19, 2022	Kirkwood	St. Louis	EF0	0[34]
May 19, 2022	Frontenac	St. Louis	EF0	0[35]
May 19, 2022	Creve Coeur	St. Louis	EF0	0[35]

See also

• List of tornadoes and tornado outbreaks
  • List of North American tornadoes and tornado outbreaks
  • List of tornado-related deaths at schools
  • List of tornadoes striking downtown areas
• Tri-State Hailstorm of April 2001 (NWS summary)
• July 2006 derechoes (NWS summary)

References

1. Brooks, Harold E.; Charles A. Doswell III (February 2001). "Normalized Damage from Major Tornadoes in the United States: 1890–1999". Weather Forecast. 16 (1): 168–76. Bibcode:2001WtFor..16..168B. doi:10.1175/1520-0434(2001)016<0168:NDFMTI>2.0.CO;2.
2. Smith, Mike (2010). Warnings: The True Story of How Science Tamed the Weather. Austin, TX: Greenleaf. pp. 134–5. ISBN 978-1608320349.
3. Tornadoes in St. Louis, Mo. (1950-2011)
4. April 22 Tornadic Supercell Greater St. Louis Metropolitan Area, National Weather Service, St. Louis, Missouri. April 23, 2011.
5. F4 St. Louis County Tornado, 24 January 1967, National Weather Service, St. Louis, Missouri
6. Violent (F4-F5) Tornadoes in the NWS St. Louis County Warning Area
7. "December 10th 2021 Tornado Outbreak". National Weather Service Office St. Louis. Dec 2021. Retrieved 2024-02-28.
8. NWS list of tornadoes in City of St. Louis
9. May 1896 St. Louis Tornado
10. A Look Back: Tornado in 1927 kills 78 in St. Louis
11. Bow Echo Event over the city of St. Louis, Missouri March 31st, 2007
12. New Years Eve Tornado Outbreak December 31 2010, National Weather Service, St. Louis, Missouri.
13. Severe Weather Event - Squall Line St. Louis Metropolitan Tornadoes April 10 2013
14. Severe Thunderstorms Produce Straight Line Wind Damage and Nine Tornadoes May 31 2013
15. St. Louis Area Tornado Climatology
16. The April 10, 2001 Historic Hailstorm and Supercell, National Weather Service, St. Louis, Missouri.
17. November 27, 2005 Severe Weather Event Downburst Winds and an Isolated Tornado in Maplewood, Missouri, National Weather Service, St. Louis, Missouri.
18. 11 March 2006 - Tornado Outbreak, National Weather Service, St. Louis, Missouri
19. 2 April 2006 - Severe Thunderstorm Outbreak, National Weather Service, St. Louis, Missouri
20. Largest Power Outage in the History of St. Louis, National Weather Service, St. Louis, Missouri.
21. June 8, 2009 EF2 Tornado St. Clair County, Illinois, National Weather Service, St. Louis, Missouri.
22. "ArcGIS Web Application". apps.dat.noaa.gov. Retrieved 2022-02-19.
23. St. Louis tornado: Twister moves 32 miles, was on ground for 35 minutes, KSHB.
24. Olivette/University City EF1 Tornado April 3rd 2014
25. "SPC Severe Weather Event Review for Saturday June 07, 2014".
26. "Storm Events Database - Event Details | National Centers for Environmental Information". www.ncdc.noaa.gov. Retrieved 2022-01-23.
27. "Storm Events Database - Event Details | National Centers for Environmental Information". www.ncdc.noaa.gov. Retrieved 2022-01-23.
28. US Department of Commerce, NOAA. "Preliminary Damage Survey Information for March 6, 2017". www.weather.gov. Retrieved 2022-01-23.
29. "Storm Events Database - Event Details | National Centers for Environmental Information". www.ncdc.noaa.gov. Retrieved 2022-01-23.
30. "Storm Events Database - Event Details | National Centers for Environmental Information". www.ncdc.noaa.gov. Retrieved 2022-01-23.
31. By, daryl herzmann. "IEM :: PNS from NWS LSX". mesonet.agron.iastate.edu. Retrieved 2022-01-23.
32. US Department of Commerce, NOAA. "December 10th 2021 Tornado Outbreak". www.weather.gov. Retrieved 2022-01-20.
33. "Storm Events Database - Event Details | National Centers for Environmental Information".
34. Higgins, Chris; Millitzer, Joe; Jackson, Ashleigh (19 May 2022). "EF-0 tornado touched down in St. Louis County during severe storms". FOX2 Now. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
35. US Department of Commerce, NOAA. "May 19, 2022 Tornadoes". www.weather.gov. Retrieved 2022-06-20.

• Grazulis, Thomas P. (1993). Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991: A Chronology and Analysis of Events. St. Johnsbury, VT: The Tornado Project of Environmental Films. ISBN 1-879362-03-1.
• Grazulis, Thomas P. (2001). The Tornado: Nature's Ultimate Windstorm. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 978-0806132587.
• National Climatic Data Center: Storm Events Database and Storm Data

External links

• National Weather Service St. Louis Tornado Climatology
• "St. Louis tornado photographs". University of Missouri–St. Louis.
• Browning, Wes (2011). "Tornadoes in the St. Louis Area...A Historical Perspective" (PDF). Gateway Observer. 2 (2). St. Louis, MO: National Weather Service: 5–7. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 2, 2012. Retrieved 2011-12-27.
• Rosencrants, Troy D.; Ashley, W. S. (2015), "Spatiotemporal analysis of tornado exposure in five US metropolitan areas", Nat. Hazards, 78: 121–140, doi:10.1007/s11069-015-1704-z, S2CID 8196684